Saturday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Matchup |
| Syracuse | Won, 5-2 | vs. Columbus, 7:05 p.m. |
Fedde (2-1, 4.47) vs. TBD |
| Harrisburg | Won, 5-4 (11 inn.) |
vs. Portland, 6:00 p.m. |
Reyes (4-5, 4.72) vs. Kent (2-3, 3.53) |
| Potomac | Lost, 6-5 | @ Buies Creek, 5:00 p.m. |
Crowe (6-0, 2.54) vs. Perez (1-1, 4.58) |
| Hagerstown | Lost, 5-3 | @ Kannapolis, 7:05 p.m. |
Alastre (2-2, 5.70) vs. Battenfield (5-1, 1.57) |
Syracuse 5 Columbus 2
• Milone (W, 3-4) 6IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, BB, 8K, HR, WP, HBP
• Smith (H, 2) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Cordero (SV, 1) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Gosewich 2-3, R, 2B, HR, 2RBI
• Marmolejos 2-4, RBI
Syracuse got back to .500 with a 5-2 win over Columbus. Tommy Milone turned in a quality start for the first time since April as he allowed both Clippers runs on five hits and a walk over six innings. He struck out eight. John Simms, Chris Smith, and Jimmy Cordero each threw a scoreless inning to earn holds and a save (respectively, natch). Tuffy Gosewich doubled, homered, and drove in two while Jose “Orange” Marmolejos went 2-for-4 with an RBI to lead the Chiefs offense. Roster moves: RHP Edwin Jackson released; OF Andrew Stevenson optioned from Washington.
Harrisburg 5 Portland 4
• McGowin 6IP, 6H, 2R, 2ER, BB, 7K, 2HR
• Williams (W, 2-1) 2IP, 0H, 0R, IBB, 5K
• Johnson 2-6, RBI
• Gushue 1-3, R, 2BB, HR, 2RBI
The Sens rallied in the 8th to tie, then walked off in the 11th, 5-4 for their fourth straight win. Kyle McGowin gave up two solo HRs, six hits total, and a walk while fanning seven over six innings. Taylor Gushue’s two-run HR and Khayyan Norfork’s RBI single tied the game at 4-4. Norfork’s sacrifice followed by a walk to Stephen Perez set up Daniel Johnson’s game-winning single to walk ’em off. The win went to Austen Williams, who walked one intentionally and struck out five in the 10th and 11th innings. Roster moves: OF Brian Goodwin MLB Rehab assignment ended, OF Adam Eaton MLB Rehab assignment begun.
Buies Creek 6 Potomac 5
• Sharp 5⅔ IP, 6H, 5R, 4ER, 3BB, 5K, HR
• McKinney (L, 0-2) 1⅓ IP, 2H, R, ER, 0BB, 1K, 1-1 IR-S
• Noll 1-3, R, 3B, BB, RBI
• Mejia 1-3, R, 2B, SF, RBI
• Keller 1-3, R, BB
Potomac led this one early with two runs in the 1st, but lost the lead by the 4th and never could catch up for a 6-5 loss to Buies Creek. Sterling Sharp got the start and pitched into the 6th, but was charged with the first five Astros runs on six hits and three walks while striking out five. The loss went to Jeremy McKinney, who let in one inherited runner and the deciding run in the 7th. Jake Noll tripled and drove in a run while Bryan Mejia doubled and hit sac fly to pace the P-Nats offense.
Kannapolis 5 Hagerstown 3
• Johnston (L, 0-2) 1⅔ IP, 3H, 4R, 4ER, 3BB, 3K, HR, HBP
• Lee 3⅓ IP, 2H, 1R, 0ER, 2BB, 4K, 3-0 IR-S
• Held 3IP, 2H, 0R, BB, 0K
• Flores 1-3, 2BB, RBI, PB(5)
• Upshaw 1-4, RBI, 2K, SB(12)
The Suns got six and a 1/3rd stellar innings of relief, but it wasn’t enough to recover from the beating Kyle Johnston took in the first inning and 2/3rds as the Intimidators lapped them, 5-3. Johnston was it up for four runs on three hits and three walks in his second loss. Andrew Lee stranded three to get out of the 2nd and let in an unearned run over the next three frames. Sam Held did with three goose eggs and just two hits allowed. Hagerstown managed just six hits with Alejandro Flores the sole batter to reach base more than once.
Can the Nats win in ATL this year ??
Not if they act as disinterested as they have the last two nights!
The Nats have a pitcher in the upper minors with a 1.50 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 11.6 K/9 . . . and the odds are that none of you reading this have any idea who I’m talking about. Neither would I if I wasn’t writing it. His name is Austen Williams, and we’ve all written him off in our minds more than once. Long relief apparently agrees with him, as do the new pitching coaches on the minor-league side. Whatever it is, something has clicked into place for him. Not sure what it will mean in the grand scheme of things, but it’s a heck of a turnaround for a guy we weren’t sure would still be in the system this year.
Speaking of back from the proverbial dead, there’s another good outing from Andrew Lee. Interesting that they stretched him out to 3.1 IP. Are they trying to build him back up to be a starter? He was starting at the time of his second TJ a couple of years ago.
Indeed, I have been following Williams’s resurgence and am now wondering even more why they didn’t do the same with A.J. Cole (who, incidentally, has been pitching quite well in long relief for the Skankies so far).
I think they wanted to do … but he demurred, guess he wasn’t happy with being yanked from starting to relief … both sides seem to have decided a change in scenery was in order. Sad because the Nats lose yet another top pitching prospect.
McGowin at age 26.5 seems to be having a bit of a breakout season … have to wonder if perhaps he ends up in the rotation in Syracuse?